Friends Really are Forever
by Kitty Kat K.O
Summary: Everyone has friends they know will always be there. Even when you feel like curling up in a ball and shutting out the world. A tribute to my friends.


I'm back!!!!!! Did you miss me? I said that I'd be back after my exchange partner left and here I am!

Stephanie: Where?!

Claudia: Right in front of you!

Stephanie: Ohhhh….WHERE?!

KKKO: O.o WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!?!

Ruby: Ahem, three.

KKKO: What are you-- Why?

Ruby: We like to irritate you.

Claudia: We got bored.

Stephanie: Yeah, really, really bored.

KKKO: Do you want something?

Stephanie: I don't know. Do we want something? Hmm, I'll think for a second….

Ruby: Erm…don't hurt yourself….

Claudia: Yeah cos thinking can be hard.

KKKO: (mumbling) I didn't know she could think.

Stephanie: Say what?

KKKO: NOTHING!! I said nothing!

Stephanie: Ok!

Ruby: Whatever. Can you just get onto the story now!

KKKO: Oh yeah! Of course!

Claudia: Kitty doesn't own TMM.

KKKO: Awww, thankx Claudie! You're so nice! Unlike others…

Ruby: HEY! Just write already!

KKKO: Fine! Honestly Ruby….

The story isn't excellent, but something that I felt I needed to do as a thank you….

Friends Really are Forever

Ice cold. Alone. They were the only words to describe it. She wasn't there anymore - or she didn't feel like it. Her body moved of it's own accord, but her mind wasn't there. She was broken. **Empty**.

Why? No-one had a clue. But everyone had noticed the change. She drifted into a room. Without a word she would leave a moment later. In fact, she hadn't spoken for a week. A week of silence. All her friends knew was that she had gone home last Tuesday, bouncing, carefree and full of life. But when she didn't turn up the next day….and then on Thursday, when she came back, wearing black and a grim expression… And everyday after that was the same thing. She didn't respond. She was blank. _It was as if she was dead inside. _

She stood over one of the tables at Café Mew Mew, wiping it again and again. Her arm kept moving back and forth with no intention of stopping even though her reflection shimmered on the table's surface.

From the other side of the room, Minto sat watching her friend. Her tea was stone cold, she hadn't drunk a drop since pouring it. Her concern for the red-head was too great so she had forgotten about the liquid.

The depressed girl had been cleaning that table alone for the past hour. Minto's guess was that she wasn't even aware that she was doing it. Something had happened and the outcome was one heartbroken kitty. _Ichigo…._ Minto thought as she continued to stare at her.

From behind, Zakuro approached the ballerina. Purin clung to her arm and Retasu gingerly walked beside.

The trio had too been watching Ichigo.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" Zakuro asked, making her presence known to Minto.

Turning round in her seat, Minto replied worriedly, "I don't know. Something's wrong. I want to know what."

"We all do, na no da," Purin whispered, just loud enough for the older three to hear her.

"We should ask," Retasu suggested.

"Even if we do, we won't get an answer. She won't even know we're there," reasoned Zakuro.

"We need to do something, onee-sama."

"I know, Minto-chan. And we will. But asking Ichigo-chan herself isn't the best idea."

"Then what shall we do, na no da?"

"The café's closed now and I don't think Shirogane-san will mind if we leave. We could take Ichigo-chan's keys since it's obvious she won't notice and have a look around her house. Maybe there's something there," Retasu said determinedly.

"Wow…I never thought you'd ever suggest _snooping_, Retasu-chan," Minto said, impressed.

After a round of nods in agreement to the plan, the girls left….

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Tip-toeing up the driveway, the four girls came to a halt at the front door. Pushing Ichigo's key into the lock, Zakuro twisted it until she heard the click of the door opening.

Pulling the handle down, a crack formed and after pushing it the crack widened so that the girls could get inside.

Once in, they split up to look around. Purin wandered into the living room, flicking the light switch as she did so. The light came on and as soon as it did Purin noticed something. Whenever she had come over, Purin had seen that everything was neat, tidy and clean. However, everything was now showing signs of being uncared for. A thin layer of dust coated everything; the carpet had plates and wrappers from take-outs, not to mention the stains that had been left; there were smudges on the windows; random objects lying carelessly on the furniture: it was _un_tidy and _un_clean.

In the kitchen Retasu found the exact same scenario. Things were scattered all over the place. Food was beginning to go out-of-date and moldy. There was no rubbish in the bin, instead it was piled high all over the floor.

Upstairs, Minto and Zakuro looked about. After finding nothing too suspicious in the bathroom or spare room, they decided to enter the only two other rooms on that floor. Ichigo's room and her parent's room.

Zakuro took the option of going into the adults room. Stepping inside she found she didn't even need to look hard. On the bed was the shape of a body pressed into the duvet. It was smaller than a grown-ups leading Zakuro to the conclusion that it was Ichigo's. Tissues were all around, crumpled and used, several empty boxes making her guess that Ichigo had been crying - a lot.

By the side of the bed was a piece of paper. It was pure white, seeming to call out to the eldest Mew to pick it up. Not resisting the temptation, she did so…and discovered the piece of paper was a will…

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Ichigo's room was a mess. No, it was more than just a mess. Things lay broken all over the room as if the red-head had had an angry tantrum and lobbed them at the nearest wall. Every single picture was face down and when Minto lifted them up to see what they were of, she found they were mostly Ichigo's parents. Things had been knocked off the desk onto the floor. However, one item remained upon it. A book. Or, more specifically, a _diary_.

Flicking through the pages, Minto found usual Ichigo scribbles. Skimming the words, most of it was about being a Mew, Masaya, the others Mews, school. Minto smirked to herself at the amount of entries that were focused mainly on their blonde boss, although most of them were complaints about him. On the pages where there was space at the bottom they had been filled with doodles.

Reaching the last entry, though, Minto found something totally different. The explanation of what happened.

_Wednesday, 12th September 2007 -- 1:17 AM_

_I-I can't believe it. They're gone. Just like that. Gone. _

_The police came round ten minutes ago. They told me my parents had been in a car accident. They had been bumped by a drunk driver on a road next to a cliff and had spun out of control and off the cliff. They fell 50 ft into the sea….and -choke- died. They-they….they DIED!!! _

_They're gone. Never coming back. Never coming back….that phrase is stuck in my head. It won't leave me alone. Everything's spinning…I think I'm going to ----------- _

That was where the entry ended. Ichigo had fainted.

So her parents had died. That was why she had closed up, why she was vacant and blank. Minto was silent for a second as things sunk in. Then her brain kicked into overdrive.

"ZAKURO-ONEE-SAMA!! PURIN-CHAN!! RETASU-CHAN!!"

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She followed her feet. She didn't care where they led her. As long as she went somewhere. Anywhere.

Suddenly she stopped. Looking up she realised that she had arrived in front of her house. Reaching into her pocket, she went to take out her keys but found they weren't there. However, she wasn't in the mood to care. Walking up to the door she pushed it open and --

"ICHIGO!!"

"Nya?" she muttered confused. Shaking her head, the catgirl came back to her senses and looked around. She was on the floor, surrounded by each of her friends who were attached to her in some way. Tears streamed down their faces as they held Ichigo.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Minto sobbed.

"You've been so hurt," Retasu whispered.

"But we're not leaving you now," Zakuro said, choking back her own sobs.

"No! Not ever! Never ever ever, onee-chan!" Purin cried.

"If you need us we're here."

"We'll help you."

"Just ask and we'll do anything, na no da!"

"You're our friend and friends do anything for each other."

"Guys….." Ichigo began, tears pricking the corners of her eyes, "….thank you. But how did you--?"

"We kinda snooped around your house. We're sorry," Retasu explained.

"But we figured that it was the only way to find out what happened," Zakuro added.

"It'll be alright," Minto began, "but it must be hard. Especially since you've been keeping this to yourself. If you'd been more open, then it wouldn't have felt as bad because we'd have helped you through it."

"And we're still going to. You're not alone, Ichigo-chan, and you never will be," Zakuro said softly, "because friends are forever."

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_Wednesday 19th September 2007 11PM_

_I've got a feeling things are going to be much easier now. I'm not alone anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm not still upset. It's going to be a long time before that happens. It may never happen. But the important thing is that I have my friends. They'll keep their word, I'm sure of it. You know something, I never really appreciated just how strong our friendship was until today. Guess they proved something to me. As Zakuro said, __**friends really are forever.**_

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**A/N: **I know. It was a mushy little oneshot about friendship. I wrote it because I've just been through a rough couple of days and my friends were there for me. So this is a tribute to them - Ruby, Claudia, Stephanie. But not only them, all of my friends: Rachel, Hannah, Cleo, Laura, Rachael, Megan, Anna, Georgia, Sophie, Grace, Tilly, Georgia, Sarah, Brooke….thank you for being there for me always.

It wasn't my best story and I am working on updates for the rest of my fanfictions, but I hoped you enjoyed it all the same. Plz R&R!


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